


i. shackled

by aro_aizawa



Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Prompt: Shackled, Torture, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aro_aizawa/pseuds/aro_aizawa
Summary: 1.waking up restrained|shackled|hangingThe homunculi letting Ed run free and threatening Winry instead of just, locking them up was pretty dumb. What if they had more than one brain cell, and y'know, arrested Ed?[prompt list]
Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944850
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51





	i. shackled

**Author's Note:**

> lol my first time writing for fma so like,,,, go easy on me pls,,,
> 
> also i kiiiind of forgot exactly the details that happened that lead up to this (bc i always marathon the whole thing w barely any breaks) so if there are any inaccuracies....uhhhhh sorry abt that

“The only thing you need to know is that you’re important to us,” the bastard Fuhrer King Bradley said calmly as if he was doing no wrong. “And there’s no need for you to dig any deeper. Accept the importance of your role and keep your heads down. You do that, and no harm will come to you.”

So many things had changed in the last twenty four hours, his world view had been flipped and turned inside out so much he half wanted to wake up in his home in Risembool, be woken by Al shoving him to play tag outside in the garden while their mother made breakfast. It was a dream just as unattainable as it was the day she died. 

This was their reality, and if these homunculi thought he was just going to roll over and let them do whatever they wanted, they were  _ dead wrong _ . He would  _ not _ be their puppet. 

He tossed his bloodsoaked pocketwatch on the table towards the Fuhrer. “I resign my title as a state alchemist.”

There was silent throughout the office as the Fuhrer looked at the pocket watch from the corner of his eye. “The symbol of a dog, fittingly crusted with blood.” 

Ed glared at the homunculi. “I’m not gonna be puppet, there’s no way I’m going to help you with your plans. You can’t order me to anymore.”

The Fuhrer continued looking at the pocket watch absently, considering. Before he suddenly snapped his gaze to Ed’s with an intensity he had to force himself not to flinch at. 

“Very well then, you leave me no choice.” The Fuhrer responded, standing up from his chair he waited until four soldiers came in unprompted and stood behind him. “Edward Elric, you are hereby under arrest for deserting the Military, and will be confined until your court-martial trial.” 

“What?!” Ed heard Al and the Colonel protest, both of them jumping up out of their seats. 

“You can’t arrest me for deserting. I’m  _ resigning.”  _ Ed emphasized. He was well within his rights to do that, he knew that. Sure, he wasn’t the most knowledgeable or up to date on every single law that Amestris enforced but he knew the terms of his enlistment front to back. 

“You can either come with us quietly, or you will be charged with resisting arrest on top of that. And anyone who attempts to stop the arrest will  _ also  _ be arrested for the obstruction of justice.” The Fuhrer challenged. 

Ed couldn’t help but clench his jaw. This was their play. With the homunculi being so deeply rooted in the military, they held all the power. Either they could order Ed due to his rank as a state alchemist, or they would contain him until they had use for him. 

“Fine.” He spat, standing up slowly and continuing to glare murderously at the homunculus. “I’ll come quietly.” 

* * *

Ed wasn’t sure how long it had been since that day. 

He’d lost count between the amount of times he’d tried to escape only to have his head smashed into walls during his recapturing. He’d wake up an unknown amount of time later, the lack of natural light adding to his disorientation and the piercing fluorescent lights dug straight into his brain. 

At first, he’d been quiet. He went without trouble, accepting the shackles placed around his wrists and ankles, he’d followed Envy as they escorted him to his cell with additional guards. Envy had tried to get a few rises out of him, but he hadn’t bothered to spare more than a vicious glare and warning growls. 

He kept up the act of the reluctant prisoner who was visibly restraining himself from lashing out. No, if he was going to break out, it would be after he’d learned all he could about his surroundings. 

When they reached the cell that Ed assumed was his, they swapped out the shackles some sort of handcuffs with a metal bar between them. Presumably a way to stop him from transmuting without chaining him up to the wall. 

Envy took great pleasure in wrapping the shackle so tightly around his left wrist his fingers lost feeling in only a few minutes. Maybe he should be thankful for small mercies, there was always the fact that he didn’t have to worry about the feeling being mirrored in his right hand at the very least. 

Thankfully, they didn’t bother putting another metal bar between his legs, but annoyingly they did attach the chains to a post in the center of the room, like a tethered dog. 

He got two meals a day, always dropped on the very edge of his reach. He had to sit on the floor and reach backwards for the tray because the damn tethered chains didn’t let him stand near the edge of the room. Envy sure did love seeing him struggle to reach for the food, sometimes when they were particularly sadistic they’d play this game of keepaway with him. Pulling the tray back  _ just _ as Ed’s fingers brushed it, pulling it back out of his reach. 

He tried not to show just how infuriated the treatment left him. They were trying to get him to fight back, so that they could threaten any number of things, or do any number of things. 

Ed had marked sixteen days since his arrest before he tried anything. It had been difficult, but he’d managed to very slowly work off the littlest toe of his automail when there hadn’t been any guards in the corridor outside. 

You wouldn’t think that a small toe could be the key component in his breakout, but it allowed him to scratch a transmutation circle into the stone floor that let him get rid of the shackle bar. From there it had been a piece of cake to use his alchemy and bust out. He nearly brought down the whole compound with the amount of walls he took down. 

Eventually, he managed to get caught, but he made them work for it, damn it. He  _ really _ should have known that the Fuhrer’s kid might have been involved in all this, but at the very very least, when he’d made them show that hand. 

From there, the escape attempts became more frequent. They didn’t bother with the shackle bar, instead they’d just strung his arms up against the wall, the only times they let him down was to pee and eat, both occasions he had a gun pointed at his head the whole time. At least he’d been shackled above his bed so he could sit on it instead of the floor. 

His next attempt was when he’d lept and pulled the soldier into a stranglehold using his legs until they passed out. It was a struggle to unlock the shackles from there, but he managed it and then attempted to have a slightly more quiet breakout. 

Yeah, they set their damn chimeras after him. They only called them off when he was bloodied and he’d felt the pain of animals chewing on his own flesh. They thought he’d be in a weakened enough state to drag him to his room, but he’d fought back. His head was launched back into the wall in retaliation, and the next thing he knew, he was seated in the center of the room on a metal chair. 

He was still in the tank top that they had given him on that day, only now they’d stripped him of his pants leaving him in his underwear. There was chains wrapped around his middle, and his left hand and right leg shackled tightly to the chair. In his mildly disorientated state, he didn’t realise that there was someone in the room with him into something got shoved violently into his shoulder. 

He yelled out in pain trying to squirm away, but the way he was chained offered no movement, he was so limited that he couldn’t even breath all that deeply. 

“Oh, good you’re awake. It’s no fun prodding you when you can’t feel it.” the smug voice of Envy jeered at him, the pain becoming even more intense as they twisted the screwdriver in their hand. 

Through bleary eyes, Ed managed to grasp what was happening. They’d removed or destroyed his automail arm and now Envy was stabbing away at the sensitive ports and where flesh should not be uncovered. It explained why Ed could feel the pain in his bone marrow. 

“Fu…” Ed tried to retort swallowing his gasp of pain as Envy twisted the screwdriver yet again. “Fuck off…”

“Aw, don’t worry, we’re going to have a lot of fun. So stop holding in all your screams. Better out than in, isn’t that what you humans say?” 

* * *

From there...Ed couldn’t say how long he’d been held prisoner. Things blurred together when he was spoonfed broth and only allowed one bathroom break a day. If he needed to use the bathroom outside of that, well, it wasn’t pleasant because the last time that Ed had any kind of shower was the day of his arrest, so…

He got sick once, he knew that. His fever had been so high he’d hallucinated and though he knew it wasn’t really the right thing to do, he half hoped that he’d succumb to the illness. After all, they needed him alive for some reason, so it would majorly fuck up their plans if one day Envy came in for another torture session to find him dead. 

He knew the sickness was serious because they actually had a doctor come in and take a look at him. He’d thrown up on the man on purpose, gaining him a bruised jaw but it had been worth it. 

He’d been in an out of consciousness after that, but they did have to chain him to the bed instead of the metal chair. He got some semblance of care since he first arrived, and it was kind of funny how they’d pushed him enough that they were forced to care for him. Only it wasn’t, because Ed needed to be out there fighting them tooth and nail not fading in an out of consciousness with a forty two degree fever. 

“You’re not getting out of this  _ that  _ easy, Fullmetal.” One of the homunculi threatened under their breath. He wasn’t sure which one, but it didn’t really matter. 

He woke up when his mind was a little less muddled to the sounds of his cell door being opened. His nausea hadn’t quite returned, but he was sure he could force himself to throw up again, maybe he’d aim for their face this time. 

“Fullmetal!” He heard someone familiar gasp before they rushed over to him. 

Ed managed to look up at the newcomer with bleary eyes, half wondering if he was still hallucinating or if Envy decided to spice up their torture sessions by using psychological methods. 

“I’m going to remove your shackles now, can you walk?” Mustang asked as he used some heavy duty bolt cutters to cut through the chains. 

The answer to the question was probably no. He hadn’t exactly been given the chance to keep up maintenance, so it was unlikely he could do more than drag his leg under him. But that didn’t matter because he knew this either wasn’t real or it was a trap. 

“You...no. I—” Ed tried to squirm away from the looming figure of the colonel. “Get...get away…” He weakly tried, he didn’t have the energy or strength to speak more than a whisper. He was so dehydrated.

“What? Fullmetal, we’re getting you out of here.” The fake-Mustang spoke incredulously. 

“Can’t tell if...hallucination or Envy so...no thanks, piss off.”

There was a moment of stunned silence before the figure went back to snapping the chains, each one falling away and slackening was a phantom feeling that electrified his body even as the fever raged. 

“Your childhood home had five rooms on the bottom floor and the basement was where your father’s office was. There was a small array of knick knacks on the mantle above the fireplace, the one in the centre was a handmade wooden figurine of a bird.” Mustang informed him in a detached tone. 

It...it wasn’t wrong. It was so small a detail, he very much doubted that anyone but visitors of the house would have ever known it, never any reason to record those small details. Not of the time where Mom had taken the first thing he’d transmuted in front of her and stuck it in a place of pride on the mantlepiece. 

“You’re coming with us, Al and the others can only distract them for so long before they manage to figure it out. We need to go, now. So, Fullmetal, can you walk?” 

“I…” Ed tried to think, to explain but he could almost  _ feel  _ his fever spiking again. “Um, don’t...think so.” 

“Sir.” He vaguely heard Hawkeye on the other side of the room. Oh, he hadn’t realised she was here. She was probably keeping an eye out at the door. 

“Alright.” Mustang spoke mostly to himself, wrapping his arm around Ed’s shoulders and pulling him upright enough that Ed’s head spun and his stomach churned violently. Now that he’d confirmed this was really the Colonel, he tried his best to keep his vomit in. “I’m going to put you on my back, will you be able to hold on?” 

Ed couldn’t really respond more than a grunt of confirmation. Oh he’d hold on with all he had, they couldn’t afford to have Mustang unable to use his alchemy. Likely, it had been one of the key factors of him and Hawkeye getting here in the first place. 

“Stay with me, Fullmetal. You’re under orders not to die.” 

“Not...state alchemist...Colonel bastard…”

Mustang snorted. “Well, I never signed any discharge papers, so until those papers cross my desk, you’re my subordinate. And I never leave my subordinates behind.” 

It was hard to believe really, after who knew how long of his world consisting only of that damn room his body was so unused to movement. It almost felt otherworldly when he felt the sensation of being carried. The way he swayed slightly with every step, his head certainly didn’t like it with the way his dizziness returned full force, and he started to lose his battle with his stomach. 

Unwillingly, his grip around Mustang’s upper body slackened and Ed felt himself slide down Mustang’s back. The colonel cursing as it happened, Ed could do nothing but lean away and throw up trying his best not to get any on his rescuers. He wasn’t sure if he succeeded, but when the painful heaves subsided he came to seeing Hawkeye wiping his mouth with a handkerchief, worry clear in her expression. 

“I’m sorry Fullmetal, but this will be unpleasant.” Mustang warned, before he was being thrown over the colonel’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The movement was so sudden Ed couldn’t help but dry heave, thankful he’d already emptied his stomach. He could feel the way that their movement sped up, Mustang was running. 

He felt the way that the colonel’s shoulder dug into his stomach, the way the air heated up when they had to use Mustang’s alchemy. The last thing he heard was a stubborn call of “hold on Fullmetal!” before he succumbed to unconsciousness. 

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this is like,,, my first publicised attempt at doing whumptober so pls go easy on me. i'm a simple writer who kiiind of struggles sticking to things, so installments might slow down or halt for a lil while but i'm deffo gonna get through them. it'll help if people send me requests for each prompt! [(ONLY REQUEST VIA ASK FEATURE ON MY TUMBLR THO!)](https://anonymouseling.tumblr.com/ask) i'll get through them,,, eventually lol also they're not all gonna be fma, so pls help me even out the amount of fandoms i'll be writing for. hope you liked this!! please leave a comment even if it's just a <3, bc that's fair, i just need validation that ppl enjoyed this ahahahah


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